Saturday, December 3, 2011

Here's a quick sneak peek at my dress. This has been my baby for the last couple of weeks. Just ask my family :) Nothing else gets done when I'm sewing... The party is tonight and I'm excited to wear my dress. I've always wanted to make my own dress for the holiday party. I was lucky enough to visit the Mall of America in October with my husband. I got to see the Bettie Page shop and Betsey Johnson. Lots of inspiration there, some of it was really over the top which isn't quite my style. That's the nice thing about sewing, I can recreate what I like and make it suit my own taste without spending $500+.
The bodice is Chinese brocade. Gathered cap sleeves with mandarin collar. I made the belt, it's just wide elastic with a belt clasp. The skirt (attached) is taffeta. I used all of my fray check going around the edges of the brocade immediately after I had cut each piece. This worked really well, I could actually touch it without it combusting into shreds. The crinoline is 4 tiers of tulle. The bottom tier is close to 20m in length. I should really bind the bottom edge with more black ribbon but I totally underestimated how much ribbon I was going to need. Another day I will finish it off since I'm sure I will wear this under dresses again. Everyone needs a crinoline, right? Just watch, I'll be the only person tonight with one.. Everyone else will be jealous :)